Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Title	Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Discipline	Medicine
Abbreviation	AAC
Publisher	American Society for Microbiology
History	1967–present
Language	English

Contents

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on antimicrobial drugs, antiviral therapies, and antifungal agents. It covers pharmacology, clinical trials, resistance mechanisms, and public health implications, linking laboratory science to clinical practice and policy debates involving institutions such as National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration. Influential contributors have included investigators associated with Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and University of Cambridge.

History and Development

The journal emerged during a period shaped by discoveries like the penicillin era and the work of researchers connected to University of Edinburgh, Rockefeller University, Institut Pasteur, and Max Planck Society. Early editorial leadership drew on figures affiliated with Medical Research Council and research funded by bodies such as Wellcome Trust and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Milestones paralleled events involving World Health Assembly deliberations and landmark trials at centers including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The journal’s evolution reflects scientific trajectories influenced by collaborations with entities such as European Medicines Agency, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Health Service, and initiatives at University of Tokyo and Peking University.

Articles classify agents into categories historically traced to work at Bayer AG, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline. Major classes include beta-lactams, macrolides, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, glycopeptides, and fluoroquinolones—classes researched at institutions like Imperial College London, University of California, San Francisco, and Karolinska Institutet. Mechanistic studies have referenced molecular biology advances from labs at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Salk Institute, and California Institute of Technology and techniques from Max Delbrück Center and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Structural elucidation often cites crystallography centers such as Diamond Light Source and Brookhaven National Laboratory, while biochemical pathways connect to work by investigators at Princeton University, Yale University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Clinical reports in the journal span randomized trials and guideline development involving organizations like American Medical Association, Royal College of Physicians, and Infectious Diseases Society of America. Therapeutic use covers community-acquired and hospital-acquired infections treated in settings such as Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The evidence base often engages trials conducted in multicenter networks including ClinicalTrials.gov registries and cooperative groups linked to Duke University, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Treatment of specific syndromes references protocols used at specialty centers like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Resistance research reported in the journal intersects with global programs run by World Bank, GAVI Alliance, and regional agencies such as European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and Public Health England. Stewardship strategies draw on policy frameworks from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, and national ministries including Ministry of Health (Japan), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India), and Ministry of Health (Brazil). Surveillance data often integrate contributions from networks centered at University of Melbourne, University of São Paulo, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. High-profile outbreaks involving pathogens studied in the journal have affected regions linked to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and prompted responses from Médecins Sans Frontières and Red Cross operations.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies report collaborations among pharmacology departments at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Toronto, McGill University, and University of Sydney. Toxicity profiles reference regulatory safety evaluations performed by European Food Safety Authority and monitoring systems such as those at Veterans Health Administration and pharmacovigilance programs linked to National Cancer Institute. Drug–drug interaction studies cite co-investigators from AstraZeneca, Novartis, and academic centers like University of Michigan and University of California, Los Angeles. Special populations addressed include cohorts from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Methods sections describe susceptibility testing standards established by bodies like Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Laboratory science draws on techniques developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and genomic platforms at Broad Institute. Diagnostic development involves collaborations with companies such as Roche, Siemens Healthineers, and Thermo Fisher Scientific and academic cores at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Genome Institute of Singapore. Outbreak investigation reports cite tools used by Federal Bureau of Investigation bioforensics and public health laboratories associated with Robert Koch Institute.

Public health implications connect the journal’s content to policy decisions by United Nations General Assembly, G20 Summit, and advisory committees to President of the United States and cabinets in countries like France, Germany, Australia, and Canada. Regulatory discourse involves approvals and guidance from Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, Health Canada, and national agencies including Swissmedic and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Global access debates reference partnerships with UNICEF, UNESCO, and philanthropic efforts by The Rockefeller Foundation. The journal’s influence extends to standards adopted in clinical practice guidelines produced by World Organization-affiliated academies and national specialty societies such as European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and American Thoracic Society.

Category:Medical journals